Featured Article
How China’s Persecuted Reach China’s Marginalized (October 3, 2025, The Gospel Coalition)
These believers don’t serve out of an abundance of time, resources, or money. Many are persecuted. All are marginalized because of their faith, with some facing additional social stigma because of the company they keep through their charitable work. Yet many Christians continue to engage in these labor-intensive, deeply relational acts of mercy and presence. Why are they doing this when their own position is so tenuous? What does it look like for the persecuted church to serve its communities? Is it worth the high cost when Christians are limited and powerless to enact large-scale change?
Spotlight
Call for Submissions: US-China Catholic Association
Since its founding in 1989, the US-China Catholic Association (USCCA) has been committed to building bridges of friendship between the people of the U.S. and the people of China. USCCA International Conferences have presented valuable opportunities for scholars and practitioners to grow in mutual understanding. The 30th USCCA International Conference will be held July 31–August 2, 2026, at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. The theme of our upcoming conference will be “Nourishing Trust and Friendship: Following the Way of Christ.” The Conference Call for Submissions has now been opened on the USCCA website!
For more information, navigate to uscatholicchina.org/conference-30.
Government / Politics / Foreign Affairs
What Public Opinion Reveals About China’s Approach to Global Conflicts (September 30, 2025, The Diplomat)
Beijing’s reserved posture in conflict mediation has long stirred global curiosity and critique. With its economic reach expanding and diplomatic heft growing, China is frequently named as potential peacemaker in conflicts ranging from Ukraine to Palestine. Yet its response remains careful, calibrated, and often deliberately ambiguous. While much of the world scrutinizes China’s foreign policy from the top-down, the quieter factor at play lie in bottom-up sentiment: how ordinary Chinese citizens weigh in on the nation’s emerging role in international affairs.
Xi Jinping Wants a Spot In Your Inbox (October 2, 2025, The Economist)
Subscription Required – Even as western news outlets struggle to gain access to China, a crop of worldly Chinese writers offers what many crave: original insight into the country from bright journalists in the know. The Economist has identified over a dozen writers on Substack who are employed by China’s state media. Cumulatively, they have over 50,000 subscribers on the popular American online-blogging platform (which is home to thousands of writers and more than 5m paying readers). Some of its top newsletters contain interpretations of Chinese government decisions, translations of speeches and analysis for an elite audience—namely, Western diplomats, scholars and journalists.
Video: The Adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party (October 6, 2025, The National Committee on U.S.- China Relations)
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is more than 100 years old. How has the party survived to date? Is its survival sustainable in the future? In The Adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party, Martin Dimitrov argues that the CCP has displayed the capacity for adaptation throughout its history by evaluating changes and taking adaptive measures in response.
Religion
Taiyuan: Noodles, Vinegar, and Coal (October 3, 2025, China Partnership)
This October, join us as we pray for Taiyuan, a city of more than 4 million in northern China, and the capital of Shanxi Province. Taiyuan sits on the Fen River in a valley at the feet of the mountains. It has a long history as the capital of many Chinese dynasties, and still boasts many museums and temples. Today, Taiyuan is a center of industry and coal production.
The Quest for the Perfect Circle (October 6, 2025, ChinaSource)
In Chinese culture, no circle is more significant or beautiful than the full, bright moon on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Reunion is the very heartbeat of the holiday, and the moon’s flawless face is its ultimate emblem. Families gather in circles to share a meal, savor delicious mooncakes, and light colorful lanterns—every act speaks of a deep yearning for “wholeness.”
Sanctification and Salvation (October 6, 2025, China Partnership)
What role should Christians play in the process of their own sanctification? What, exactly, should believers do in order to become more holy? A Chinese house church pastor tackles these questions. He believes Chinese Christians need to seek a deeper understanding of grace, grow in their life of prayer, and lean into living communally with other believers.
Following in Footsteps (October 7, 2025, ChinaSource)
Recently, I found myself following in my late mother’s footsteps—retracing pieces of her life to better understand the hardships she carried and the resilience that shaped her. That personal journey gave me a deeper lens for reading Edward Wong’s At the Edge of Empire. His memoir, centered on the life of his father, is a harrowing yet profoundly moving account of survival through war, poverty, political upheaval, and relentless hardship. It is also a window into the remarkable endurance of the Chinese people.
Society / Life
As More Chinese Seniors Live Alone, ‘Outsourced Children’ Step In (October 1, 2025, Sixth Tone)
An increasingly popular market in China for “outsourced children” — services where strangers are hired to provide companionship and care for elderly people living alone — is sparking debate over the lack of regulation and potential legal risks.
Jerome Cohen, the “Evergreen Pine of Rule of Law in China,” Remembered (October 1, 2025, China Digital Times)
The death of Jerome Cohen last week at the age of 95 prompted a wave of tributes to the legendary professor of Chinese law. Outside legal circles, Cohen may have been best known for his involvement in the escape from China of legal activist Chen Guangcheng, and he was frequently and energetically outspoken in support of others suffering official repression in China. Besides frequently discussing their cases with reporters, he also embraced blogging [link currently inactive], and in 2020 co-hosted a ten-part online seminar on “Law, Justice and Human Rights in China.”
People Mountain, People Sea: Golden Week in Pictures (October 3, 2025, Sixth Tone)
From patriotic choruses atop Mount Tai to holiday crowds jamming Qingdao’s Zhanqiao Pier and snack streets in Changsha, China’s eight-day National Day break drew throngs to landmarks, waterfronts, and festival grounds in a nationwide travel rush.
Being Chinese | My Family’s Journey Through China’s Changing Educational Landscape (October 3, 2025, South China Morning Post)
I was born in rural China in the 1980s and education was always going to be my escape route. “Knowledge is power” was not a cliché; it was a creed my parents, though farmers, held dear. Their sacrifices, coupled with my own diligence, propelled me from a village school to a prestigious university education, ultimately leading to a fulfilling career and a transformed life. Now a parent myself, I still have a front-row view of China’s educational landscape.
China Faces Unprecedented Donkey Shortage Crisis (October 5, 2025, What’s On Weibo)(subscription required)
China is facing a serious donkey shortage. China’s donkey population is far below market demand, and the prices of donkey-related products continue to rise. Recently, this issue went trending on Weibo under hashtags such as “China Currently Faces a Donkey Crisis” (#我国正面临缺驴危机#). The Donkey Branch of China’s Livestock Association (中国畜牧业协会驴业分会) addressed this issue in Chinese media earlier last week, telling China News Weekly (中国新闻周刊): “We have plenty of cattle and horses in China now — just not enough donkeys” (“目前我国牛马都不缺，就缺驴”).
China’s Cyberspace Administration is Suppressing ‘Pessimistic and Negative Sentiments’ Online (October 6, 2025, Global Voices)
The CAC has decided Chinese society has a negativity problem, and going forward, content that discusses familial trauma, parents’ frustration with their “unfilial children,” men’s antagonism toward “materialistic women,” women’s hostility against “cheating scumbag men,” workplace criticism of “unambitious young people,” and mockery of “bizarre bosses” are being flagged as negative sentiments in a widely shared online bulletin published by state-affiliated Chinese Central Television. The commentary stressed that the CAC’s latest campaign aimed to stop the “selling” of antagonism and negative sentiments.
Economics / Trade / Business
Chips and Soybeans (September 30, 2025, ChinaFile)
The recent framework deal on TikTok is an important step in resolving one significant irritant in the US-China economic relationship. But, many other matters require attention if both countries are going to successfully stabilize the bilateral trade and economic relationship, including critical minerals and magnets, excess capacity exports, agriculture market access, and level playing field concerns in a wide array of sectors.
Dolled Up: The Streamers Scouring Stores for Labubu Fits (October 1, 2025, Sixth Tone)
Zoubo, or “mobile livestreaming,” is a form of online selling in which livestreamers move between stores in a marketplace, showcasing and buying products for viewers. Yang Jiandan is a 29-year-old livestreamer selling apparel for Labubu and other dolls in Yiwu, a small-commodities trading hub in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. Here, she shares the challenges of finding a lucrative niche, and why she has ultimately started hawking her own designs.
Opinion | How China’s Entrepreneurs Are Blazing a Trail of Economic Transformation (October 2, 2025, South China Morning Post)
For over a decade, commentators have warned of China’s looming economic decline. Today, the challenges are real: US-China trade frictions, weak household consumption, an overstretched property sector and a shrinking workforce. Making money in China may feel harder than before. Yet to see China solely through the lens of stagnation is to miss the profound transformation under way. Far from collapsing, China is restructuring. More importantly, it has nurtured a generation of entrepreneurs and consumers who are driving competitiveness at scale and continuing to integrate into global systems.
Why Labubus Are Changing the Way You Think of China (October 3, 2025, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
China’s soft power strategy has been largely unable to resonate with global audiences, but Labubus have taken the world by storm. From Thailand to Texas, Pop Mart stores are popping up to satiate consumers’ desire for these collectable toys. Contrary to state-backed soft power strategies, Labubus tapped into organic market-driven trends, such as blind-box culture, to reach a wide and dedicated audience. Labubus can also serve as a gateway to China, introducing people to Chinese artists and incentivizing them to visit POPLAND in Beijing to collect exclusive toys. Are Labubus the exception to China’s previous soft power pursuits, or a sign of a successful new strategy?
Science / Technology
AGI Has Quietly Become Central to Beijing’s AI Strategy (October 1, 2025, China Brief Archives – The Jamestown Foundation)
The State Council’s August release of the Opinions on Deeply Implementing the ‘AI+’ Action reignited debate over whether Beijing is serious about artificial general intelligence (AGI) or focused only on embedding applied AI across the economy (State Council, August 26). Commentary has often leaned toward the latter, but Party sources and policy documents show a clear throughline: since the 2017 New Generation AI Development Plan first defined “generalizable” intelligence as a research horizon, AGI has steadily moved from implicit objective to explicit policy goal. By 2025, that goal was tied to modernization benchmarks and reinforced through Party-state planning at every level.
China’s “AI+” Drive Aims for Integration Across Sectors: A Wake-Up Call for Europe (October 2, 2025, MERICS)
Beijing’s focus on practical AI applications reflects its long-standing policy direction. Even if China trails the West in cutting-edge AI and continues to struggle to secure high-quality AI chips, it could still leap ahead in using AI in several fields and in overall adoption across society. Defining AI broadly, Chinese policy extends beyond content-generating large language models to include industrial tools like robotic arms, automation software, integrated smart city solutions, and advanced equipment in emerging fields like the low earth orbit economy; consumer products like smart cars, humanoid robots and wearables; and services like e-commerce, transportation, housekeeping, elderly care, and childcare.
Language / Language Learning
Mandarin Monday: All Your Moony Vocabulary (October 6, 2025, The Beijinger Blog)
Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节快 (Zhōngqiū Jié), the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, which is when the moon is at its roundest and brightest, making the moon central to this traditional holiday. So, let’s explore some Chinese language and culture behind this celestial beauty.
Travel / Food
China Braces for Travel Rush as Millions Head Home at End of ‘Golden Week’ Holiday (October 7, 2024, South China Morning Post)
The Chinese transport authorities are preparing for a major travel rush as millions take to the roads and railways at the end of the national “golden week” holiday. The annual holiday, which ends on Wednesday, is one of the busiest times of the year for travel. On Monday, the Ministry of Public Security noted that a significant increase in return traffic flow was expected on Tuesday, especially in four megacity clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Chengdu-Chongqing region.
Arts / Entertainment / Media
Alibaba’s AI Bias Problem (October 3, 20205, China Media Project)
In conversations with AI experts in recent months, I’ve encountered several who are rather dismissive of the dangers of state manipulation. Of course China is going to put propaganda into its LLMs — so what? Chinese-language responses are the most likely to be manipulated, the reasoning goes, leaving the broader international community largely unaffected. But are we really so sure?
“Think of Your Pension” – and Other Writing Tips from Esteemed China Hands (October 6, 2025, Peking Hotel)
China hands are often writers. They are foreign correspondents racing to send drafts via telegram, economists launching one of the earliest email newsletters, intelligence officers preparing reports for D.C. policymakers, and others. So with hundreds of hours of tapes under our belt, we made a compilation of writing tips from our fellow China hands.
Books
Why Biblical Theology Matters in Global Mission and the Chinese Church (October 3, 2025, ChinaSource)
Book Review – World Mission: Theology, Strategy, and Current Issues
To fully participate in God’s mission as his people, we need a mosaic of endeavors and practices such that we move in tandem with God towards the redemption of His creation. At the core of these practices and endeavors are convictions, specifically convictions on the authority and sufficiency of Scripture in world mission. To this end, World Mission sounds the clarion call to the church “to return to a thoroughly biblical ethos for world mission” (p. xi)
History / Culture
A 969-Year-Old Pagoda, Too Fragile to Climb, Gets a Fitting Facelift (October 2, 2025, Sixth Tone)
When, at dusk on a fall day in 1933, Liang Sicheng, China’s pre-eminent architectural historian, first laid eyes on the Wooden Pagoda of Ying County, he was in awe. “When we were still some five miles from the town, I suddenly discerned — near the furthest limit the road allowed the eye to reach — what seemed a flashing jewel against a deep violet backdrop: a red-and-white pagoda, its tiered roofs suffused with the gold of the sinking sun and gently cupped by the surrounding hills,” he wrote.
The Folk Allure of the Rolling Lantern (October 2, 2025, The Beijinger Blog)
Among the vast treasury of Chinese folk arts, few are as captivating as the rolling lantern (滚灯 gǔndēng). Unlike the stationary or hanging lanterns most people picture during festivals, this one is designed to move, tumble, spin and soar through the air in the hands of a skilled performer while its flame miraculously remains alight. For centuries, this extraordinary art form has traveled across the country, leaving its mark on the cultural landscapes
Events
Online Seminar: “A Timely Call to Discernment on Traditional Gnosticism for the Chinese Church: Liberating Our Reason and Spirit in the Logos and the Holy Spirit” (Boston Academic Institution)
Due to the influence of the convergence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, many Chinese Protestant Christians—even after receiving salvation—may find it difficult to completely leave behind certain patterns of thought and practice from these traditions. Among them, Gnostic elements embedded in traditional Chinese culture and Chinese collective subconsciousness have, in some cases, acted like tares among the wheat, subtly constraining and sometimes distorting Christian reason, heart and spirituality. This seminar will be conducted in Chinese.
Format: Online via Zoom (You will receive Zoom login information after registration)
Time: Thursday, October 23, 2025, 8:30 PM EST (8:30 AM Beijing Time, Friday, October 24)
Seminar Registration Form:
(Inside China link: https://f.wps.cn/g/yYgEjbu0/)
(outside China link: https://shorturl.at/Snyun)
Resources
One Minute Witness (Oasis World Ministries)
The “ordinary Christian” needs reliable/easy to use/simple tools that work for them to share their faith. The One Minute Witness tool equips the ordinary Christian to confidently and compassionately share their faith and open doors in a non-threatening way. It is a simple faith-sharing tool because it is a testimonial tool and not a doctrinal tool. Who can argue with your testimony? The One Minute Witness provides you a permission based method for opening the door of a faith conversation. The tool is in many languages including Mandarin Chinese.
Pray for China
October 2 (Pray For China: A Walk Through History)
On Oct. 2, 1871, pioneer student evangelist Ding Limei (丁立美牧师) was born in rural Shandong. Soon after finishing seminary, the young preacher’s faith was severely tested: during the Boxer Uprising in 1900, he was arrested and beaten 5 times with 40 stripes during his 40 days in jail. He emerged with a determination to preach the gospel in every province, and fulfilled that vow during his 15 years with the YMCA’s China Student Volunteers for Evangelism. In 1923, Pastor Ding’s focus shifted from evangelism to theological education, and the remainder of his ministry was primarily as a professor at seminaries in Shandong and Tianjin. Pray for the Loving Heavenly Father to be glorified as the believers in Shandong and Tianjin are trained in His Word and manifest His grace. If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 1 Timothy 4:6
All Things in Light of Eternity (September 30, 2025, ChinaSource)
Praying Through ZGBriefs (August 29, 2025, ChinaSource)
Operation World (April 21, 2025, ChinaSource)
Pray for China (prayforchina.us)
Pray for China (China Partnership)
Prayer Walking as a Rhythm of Life (May 30, 2025, ChinaSource)
Jason Mandryk on Intercessory Prayer (July 29, 2025, ChinaSource)